


Skele-fied Rainbow

by BlueDysania



Series: Tales of Soulmates [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Grillby's Bar - Freeform, Ironic Situations, M/M, Muffet's Cafe, Multiple Pairings, Pessimistic Stretch, Red has an Accent, Romance, Rus is a Good Friend, See Colors When You Meet Your Soulmate, Small Sans, Soulmates, Stretch Loves It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13772586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDysania/pseuds/BlueDysania
Summary: A world where you can only see color where your Soulmate has touched: HoneyMustardStretch didn't have a glowing view of Soulmates. He highly doubted he would ever find his own. Turns out, all he had to was have his little brother give him a verbal ass-kicking, spend a whole lot of gold, get guilt-tripped by his best friend, and then take a glance out a café window.Who would have thought, right?





	Skele-fied Rainbow

**Author's Note:**

> geeze, this took forever. still not completely satisfied, but I've labored long enough over it. enjoy!

"Okay! I am ready."

Stretch glanced over to the front door. His little brother was in his gym clothes, a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt, with his NTT duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Stretch chuckled as he watched Blueberry double-check himself, patting down his pockets and smoothing out his shirt.

"Well, have fun, bro…" He called out as Blueberry took out his house key.

And as he expected, Blueberry faced him where he lounged on the couch, hands on his hips and his patented 'big-brother' expression on. "Brother, I am going to the gym now and I will be gone for a few hours. Please do not sleep the entire time I am out of the house!"

"Aw, come on Blue… it takes a lotta energy to relax as hard as I do." His easy grin widened as he watched his brother puff up in annoyance.

"No! You need to get out of the house. You've had an entire week off from work and you spent five days of it just lying on the couch! Why don't you call one of your friends to hang out today? Isn't Rus in town right now?"

Stretch slouched further into the cushions, turning his sockets up at the ceiling as he tried to nonchalantly explain, "Yeah, but his Soulmate lives nearby and since he found him… well… he's been kinda distracted."

The awkward silence that followed told him he hadn't succeeded. He looked toward his brother and felt immediate guilt at the deflated posture he wore. It wasn't exactly a secret that Stretch had mixed feelings about the whole Soulmate business. But despite the problems he had with the concept, he never _ever_ discouraged his brother from it. If anyone deserved to find their Soulmate, Blueberry did.

With that thought, he pushed himself off the couch and headed straight for his big brother. Stretch grinned playfully when Blueberry's daunted expression turned alarmed and scooped him up in his arms. He let his brother take a moment to realize what he was about to do and just as Blueberry opened his mouth to protest, Stretch began to twirl.

He only stopped when Blueberry began to cling back to him, pounding his back with his small but powerful fists and they swayed in place, laughing until their sight straightened once more.

"Don't worry about it, bro. I'll promise to give him a call and see if we can't meet up for lunch or something." He assured as he set his brother down.

Despite his good intentions, Blueberry looked up at him critically and then nodded with the air of someone doing someone else a favor, "Very well! And! As long as you are endeavoring to not be a lazybones, I will not complain if you go to Muffet's!"

Stretch wiped a fake tear from his socket and made grabby hands at Blueberry as he gushed about his big brother's generosity. Blueberry smacked at his hands with a yelp and jerked the door open. Just as Blueberry called out his farewell and made to slam it closed, Stretch caught it.

"And bro?" He said, waiting for his brother to stop and meet his eyelights. "Good luck."

All at once, Blueberry lit up, stars spinning in his sockets, "Thank you! I will be home to make dinner! Be on time!" He called out, running across the yard and then rocketing down the street toward the center of town.

Stretch rubbed the back of his skull and sighed as he closed the door. Welp, he better make good on his promise then. He fished out his cellphone from his pant pocket and flipped it open. Punching in a number, he pulled out a lollipop from his other pant pocket and skillfully unwrapped it with a single hand as he listened to the ringtone. As expected it got to the last ring before voicemail and the line clicked as it connected.

"Hey." A languid voice answered.

"Hey, man, you got some time to hang out today?" Stretch waited patiently as silence extended on from the other side of the phone. He could imagine the steady inhale and exhale of his friend's dog treats. "… Sure."

Came the reply and though it sounded completely disinterested, Stretch grinned.

"Cool. Cause I've got the blessing from Blue to splurge at Muffet's."

Rus hummed an assenting noise and Stretch glanced at the clock.

"Meet you there in thirty?"

Another non-verbal sound of agreement floated down the line and Stretch hung up, shortcutting to his room to grab his wallet.

 

When Stretch got to Muffet's, Rus had already arrived. As pseudo-promised, he'd decided to walk the couple of miles to the café so when Blueberry came home from another day of Soulmate hunting, he could at least make his little brother smile. Rus was reclining against the café doorframe, a dog treat hanging loosely between his teeth.

"Hey. She throw you out when tried to light up in the waiting area?" Stretched drawled as he walked up. Rus didn't even open his sockets, throwing a middle finger in his direction. Stretch laughed and they went inside. After Rus crushed the dog treat under his heavy combat boots.

Muffet gave them a critical look when they walked in, but with a slow blink from Rus who showed no regret whatsoever for his disregard for her rules she huffed, turning away from him and angling a sweet smile in his direction instead.

"Hello, dear! Here for a quick snack?"

Stretch grinned, lifting a pouch full of coins leftover from his last paycheck, "Nah. Give me the good menu. I've got bro's permission to spend everything I've got."

Muffet's eyes, all six of them, widened in delight and she ushered them cheerfully to one of the best seats in her café, front window view and in full sight of her personal working station behind the counter.

The multi-paged menus were waiting for them when they got seated, held aloft by a multitude of tiny spiders that dispersed once they accepted them. A few threw a couple of well-wishes and hellos in Stretch's direction and he winked at their rapidly disappearing forms. As a regular, he got the privileged opportunity of getting to know a lot of the spiders and subsequently getting on their good side. Sometimes they sneaked him a few special treats, that he had to pay for but with a tender discount that he didn't complain about.

They ordered quickly, both intimately knowledgeable about the menu here already. Muffet walked toward the back of the café with a spring in her step, already calling out their order to her spiders.

As two bottles descended via webs, honey and BBQ respectively, Stretch leaned back and deliberated what to say. Now he could say nothing, because he was fully aware that Rus was perfectly content with absolutely no conversation. But his brother's scolding session from this morning was still vivid in his mind.

"So, how about that weather?"

Rus, in the middle of taking a drink of his BBQ sauce, eyed him and did not answer. Stretch rubbed the back of his skull, chuckling under his breath. Yeah, that one had been stupid. Instead he popped the bottle lid open on his honey and sighed, deciding to breach his least favorite topic.

"So… how's your Soulmate?" Stretch took a sip, then raised a brow, "And are you ever gonna name the guy for me or is _Precious_ all I'm getting."

A spark of mirth flared in his friend's eyelights as his fangs curled in a smile, "It suits him."

"So, that's a no, huh?"

Rus shrugged, mirroring his position. They shared a few more minutes of silence but Stretch waited. He knew he was still getting an answer for his first question. Rus often spoke more slowly than other monsters. It was not that he was slow thinking or anything like that. Anyone who thought Rus was unintelligent was in for a rude awakening if they ever incurred retaliation from him. Rather, Stretch had come to realize it was as though he took each word through careful consideration before speaking.

"He's tired, but… doing alright." Rus ducked his head, his large hood sliding farther down to shadow his sockets. "Glad to hear I was back in town."

Despite his irritation ~~jealousy~~ , he couldn't help but grin at the subtle traces of affection in Rus' voice. Rus had always been more detached than the everyday person, but Razz and his newly found Soulmate, Precious, had done wonders for him.

"Shouldn't you be spending time with him right now?" Geeze, he really hoped he didn't sound bitter right now. He was glad that his friend had found Precious, sincerely.

Rus showed no sign of hearing anything other than curiosity, merely shrugging. "We were together yesterday. Already had plans with a friend of his for today. And I'll see him tomorrow too."

Stretch nodded, and then sighed, "Soooo…" he began in a drawn-out way, drawing Rus' still hooded (heh, _hooded_ ) gaze. "What colors are Precious?"

He'd waited, dragged it out, but even he couldn't keep curiosity at bay forever. Everyone who hadn't met their Soulmate yet had that question on the tip of their tongues.

What colors did you see first?

Stretch found it a strange question either way. Because the colors that their Soulmate was or were wearing on the day you found them wasn't actually the first colors you saw. In their world of white, gray, and black, the first other colors you see depended on what your Soulmate physically touched. A single touch might color it a shade lighter than white, or gray, or black. The more they touched something, the more saturated the color would be. It was meant to be a homing beacon, scientists who studied the Soulmate phenomena speculated, a way to discover where your Soulmate was the most often and thus easier to find them.

It was why Blueberry had been going to the gym everyday at different times each day. He had decided to enroll in a specialty course called Fencing and found that the doors and various items around the room were covered in soft hues of color. It meant that his Soulmate went often but not all the time and as time went on, Blueberry had announced excitedly that the general area of the gym was slowly gaining color as well.

It divine intervention was what it was. One that Stretch approved of, it was for his little brother after all.

Only 25% of the world's population ever found their Soulmates. Surprisingly, it wasn't that easy to find each other in a world so large and a population so spread out. And since no one else could see your Soulmate's trace colors, it wasn't like anyone could help you. But everyone was so adamant that everyone would find their one and only, their special someone, and everything would be perfect. Stretch found it a tiring prospect.

He knew he was one of the few who had decided that not finding his Soulmate wouldn't be the end of the world. He felt completely satisfied with the idea of finding someone with a similar view toward the prospect of Soulmates and just settling down with a nice monster.

Rus had been one of those few people once.

Then he'd gone to work at a new lab in the Snowdin Research Facility on the outskirts of town and discovered color splashed everywhere in the building. It hadn't taken him long, he'd said, void of any arrogance. He'd simply circled the building one by one, knocked on every door, explained his reasoning if questioned, until he'd found him. He had been loaned to the facility so he hadn't had much time.

Then he'd found him, completely absorbed in whatever calculations he'd been running at the time, bent over a strange machine or something, and Rus had simply stood in the doorway, watching him until the other monster had looked up too. That was where Rus stopped relaying his tale and refused to speak further about it.

Rus had never brought up the lack of the Color Question but now that Stretch had asked, he made a quiet hum, and true to his nature did not ask why Stretch wanted to know weeks later, and answered with a level of whimsicality, "Blue. Blue and white and black." His eyelights glowed bright and a breathy laugh escaped him, "And pink. Mostly blue."

Stretch wasn't sure what to say in response so he took a large drink of his honey instead. Silence settled on them again, broken only by Muffet personally delivering their tray of goodies to their table. Stretch thanked her generously with a tip and she winked as she sashayed away.

They ate quietly for a while and finally Stretch broke the silence, "How is your transfer going?"

"Well. It shouldn't be another month." A smile formed on his face and Rus looked straight at him as he continued. "Milord is pleased with the development as well. He found colors in town recently."

Stretch was glad he had a friend like Rus who didn't bother with pity or tried to dodge topics he didn't particularly like. He raised his honey bottle in a toast and flashed a tired but real smile, "Congrats to your brother then. Hope he finds them."

Rus dipped his head gratefully, "As do I." He too, took a drink and a bite of the pastry in front of him. They both worked through a few of the items on the tray, each easily as delicious as the next. Once they'd cleared half the tray, Rus spoke up abruptly, "How have you been?"

"Huh?"

"You've been avoiding me since I found Precious."

Stretch winced, "Come on, man… I haven't been _avoiding_ you. I was just giving you some space. You met your Soulmate after all."

"Doesn't mean I liked him at first."

Stretch stared, "… What? You don't like him?"

"Didn't say that."

Stretch put the heel of his hand against his socket as he felt any lingering agitation begin to rise up again, "Rus-"

"You seem to be under the impression that as soon as I found Precious, I wouldn't care about any of my friends or family."

Anyone else listening in might have thought it was true for all the blandness in his tone, but Stretch could tell his words reflected a certain amount of hurt.

"I… I didn't mean to…"

"I know." Rus idly messed with the sprinkles that had fallen onto the tray, "I didn't instantly fall in love with him you know. It wasn't like that. To be honest, the whole explosion of colors thing… might have a hand in boosting romance between Soulmates more than anything. When he looked at me he just asked if we could sit down and talk for a while." Stretch said nothing, absorbed as Rus continued to speak, "We're scientists. We were both skeptical of this type of thing. He was the one who brought up the whole 'we can just be friends' idea. We kind of did that. But eventually… well, that's our story."

"Soulmate doesn't mean a perfect partner. Just means it's who you need in your life." Rus smiled. "Always had Milord… now I have Precious too."

Stretch blinked once, twice, and then took a large gulp of honey before, "Hey, you wanna hang out later this weekend?"

Rus raised his BBQ sauce in a toast.

"Sweet."

 

An hour later Stretch had put everything out of mind. He just enjoyed the company of a friend he had unintentionally avoided for a couple weeks. And it was a fun time. He'd have to thank Blueberry when he got home today.

It was after they'd ordered another round of drinks that Stretch glanced out the window and caught a strange glimmer of light. Idly, he tried to spy where it came from and saw the door to the bar across the street swinging closed, a large group of monsters leaving the premises, most looking drunk off their feet or supporting their fellow drunkards. He found the source of the sparkle and stared at the horizontal bar across it's expanse. It… It looked normal, like shiny silver to his sight, but… was that…

"Hey, Rus… what color is that door over there?"

"… Which one?" Rus asked as he leaned over to cast lidded sockets across the street.

"Grillby's."

"Hmm… mahogany wood." Stretch could feel Rus glancing at him. "Plain glass panels." Rus was quite obviously pausing between each statement, waiting for some sort of sign. "Pale gold fixings and handles."

"Is… pale gold… is it close to, uh…"

Rus leaned back, examining him closely, "Not that distinguishable of a color, considering the distance. Wanna take a closer look?"

Stretch stood and nodded jerkily, keeping his eyelights trained on the door handles. Then paused. Hadn’t he just decided he'd be okay without one, that it was no big deal. A hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped, shooting a panicked look at Rus. He opened his mouth to say something but found no sound coming out.

"I need a smoke anyway. We can just poke our heads in. No harm."

He latched onto that reasoning and nodded again. Calmly, he took out his pouch of gold and emptied it of all but a small handful of coins. He waved goodbye to Muffet who called out a cheerful farewell and hope they returned soon, even as Rus lit up another dog treat just within the café's threshold. He definitely would not be, not until he got his next paycheck.

He had been headed for the crosswalk just down the street, grimacing at the idea of passing the crowd of drunks stumbling across it now, but Rus pulled him into the road, jaywalking fearlessly toward the bar. He resisted only a moment before relenting and quickening their pace.

He stopped in front of the doors and brushed the spots that were now clearly colored a soft off-white shade. _Pale Gold_ , Rus had said. He pushed it open and swallowed when he saw the gray and black interior and a few spots on the bar directly in front of some barstools, also lightly shaded, absolutely saturated in a singular color and a bunch of bottles just as deeply colored sitting on each table. Ketchup? Or maybe mustard? Those were the popular ones, right?

There was one monster though, sitting where the color was clearest, hidden behind a pair of canine monsters belonging to the local Guard. He could hear him. He shuffled closer, moving to look around the Guards inconspicuously when they suddenly barked good-bye and scampered over to a table where more canine monsters playing a card game.

He only had a moment to think: _Holy shit is this it, is this the one?_ when he realized two things in rapid succession.

The first was that the small monster revealed to him was just as black and white as the rest of the world around him.

The second was that the moment the other monster had been revealed, Rus had moved forward to drape over him, making a quiet pleased sound.

"Rus?" The small monster seemed startled, but accepted the impromptu cuddling with no hesitation. "What are you doing here?"

"Precious." Rus rumbled, grinning widely as the monster's cheeks turned dark.

"I told you not to call me that in public." The other muttered, though he sounded resigned all the same. Rus chuckled, laying his chin atop his Soulmate's skull. Stretch jolted out of his daze when the smaller skeleton looked over at him curiously, a friendly smile appearing on his face. "Hey there, buddy. You must be Stretch."

"Uh…"

Precious looked upwards at Rus who had closed his sockets, still leaning against the other skeleton who was at the perfect height sitting on the bar stool and still smoking his dog treat. "He talks about you a lot."

Stretch sighed, taking a seat at the bar, on the seat right in front of the colors, "Yeah, that's me. You must be Precious." He added with a half-hearted smirk.

The other skeleton blushed again and made a, admittedly cute, growly sound as he grabbed the uncolored condiment bottle, "It's actually-"

"Precious." Rus interrupted, for all appearances still dozing.

" _Sans_." He stressed, rolling his eyelights, "And put that out, would ya. Paps went nuts last night and made me go over a bunch of brochures about quitting bad habits 'cause I smelled like smoke."

Rus chuckled and took the dog treat out of his mouth, putting it out in an ashtray on the bar top. Color Stretch impressed, getting Rus to put out his smokes usually took a few minutes at best. Once done, Rus used his foot to drag a barstool right behind Sans. Stretch watched, impressed, as Rus pulled Sans back so that his legs framed him, wrapping his arms around the smaller skeleton's middle. Sans' face remained darkened but after a small huff he spied the smile on Sans' face.

"Thanks." Sans said quietly, then looked up at him, "What brings you guys here? Rus said he'd never been in before yesterday?" He glanced up and Rus made an affirmative noise.

Stretch looked down at the counter awkwardly, "I… saw the door handle. It was colored in a bit."

He didn't want to look over, he felt embarrassed to bring it up for some reason. Like he was chasing something he had said wouldn't be worth it.

"Oh."

Well, Stretch had to look _now_. Sans sounded… off. And he hadn't known the guy for ten minutes. Sans wasn't looking at him though. Or the floor in some attempt to not meet his eyes. He was looking at the counter, that Stretch was still lightly brushing his fingers over.

Sans raised his eyelights to meet his and he cleared his throat, asking casually, "Anything else colored in, pal?"

He tapped the counter and Sans' smile twitched wider, "Oh." Then he started chuckling. Rus peaked down with a singular eyelight, curious but silent. "Um, you don't happen to go to Miss Muffet's Café a lot, do ya?"

Stretch nodded, suddenly alert. His face fell into a glare when Sans erupted into full-bodied laughter. He had half a mind to snap at him that this wasn't at all funny when he caught the look that Rus was levelling at him.

 _You're a big boy. Suck it up._ His lidded hollow sockets said, then they reignited as they lowered to look down adoringly at the bundle of laughter in his arms. Stretch clicked his teeth together and scowled. He rested his head on a hand, waiting out the laughter as he studied the little monster coldly.

And as he did, he found his irritation cooling. He hadn't noticed, but he saw familiar lines of bone-deep weariness on Sans' face. The same ones on Rus' and his own. The type of look that monsters who didn't laugh freely tended to wear. No wonder Rus had hypothetically bared his fangs at him.

When Sans' laughter began to cease, Stretch noticed one of his hands pointing, badly, over at the doors. Small gasps became dotted with words trying to make themselves whole between the laughter.

"He… he just… and you… the same time…!"

Rus murmurs something against Sans' skull and the skeleton takes a couple deep breaths and then turns happy-drunk eyelights on him, "S-sorry." He casted a finger toward the door again. "It's just, my friend. He just left because he saw some colors in the café across- oh, man."

Stretch looked over as the soft jingle of the bar doors opening made Sans chuckle with a wide smile. And stared.

Another skeleton, no more than half a foot taller than Sans, was shuffling into the bar with his hands shoved in his coat pockets and a deep scowl on his face. And as he moved closer and closer, Stretch took in the myriad of colors that he saw decorating the other skeleton. He was vibrant, the most beautiful things he had ever seen. How could he have imagined living without color like this?

He could see colors expanding underneath his Soulmate's sneakers, soaking the entire bar with warm tones and possibly overwhelming if he could drag his eyelights off of the other skeleton.

"Spider lady wouldn’ let me check out the café without payin'." His Soulmate growled in a deeper voice that Stretch had expected, "An' my next paychecks not fer another week." And the accent! Stretch found it endearing already. His joy only dimmed a bit when he saw a hand wipe discreet and quick against his sockets as he mumbled, "Fuckin' bullshit."

Then his Soulmate looked up, at first looking confused no doubt when he spied three skeletons rather than one, but Stretch watched his eyelights, oh wow he couldn't wait to find out what color his eyelights were called because it was hands down his new favorite, widen.

Even as he waited out the stuttering from his Soulmate, he grinned down at him and he decided he better strike quick while he still had the upper hand, "You're beautiful."

Huh? Well not what he had intended to say but… it wasn't not true.

The explosion of, "What tha **fuck**!" and the spread of color the same hue as his eyelights across his cheeks had him snickering as he leaned against the bar top. Sans had erupted into peals of laughter beside them and Stretch glanced over to see Rus picking up the still giggling skeleton, tossing a wad of cash onto the counter. He was given a nod, a pointed look, then he passed by the somehow fuming but excited skeleton still glowering at him.

Stretch glanced at the cash and then, still sitting in his Soulmate's seat, tapped the counter, "I'll buy the next round, wanna sit down and talk for a bit?"

His Soulmate looked at him suspiciously, but slowly took Sans' abandoned seat. He was sweating, glancing anxiously between him, the bar, and the doors now swinging shut behind Rus and Sans. Stretch eyed him affectionately as he placed an order with the bartender quietly. His order was swiftly passed to him, confirming that his Soulmate was indeed a regular here.

Sliding the mustard over to him, causing him to jump, he winked, "I'm Stretch."

His Soulmate picked up the mustard slowly and looked over at him, an intense gaze for the anxiety on his face. A hard swig and he slammed it down, a shaky smirk snaking across his fangs, light glinting off the singular shiny incisor, "Nice ta meetcha. M' Red."

**Author's Note:**

> Questions, Comments, and Requests at [BlueDysania](http://bluedysania.tumblr.com/).


End file.
